#Immunotherapy Show Promise In fighting Blood Cancer In recent years, immunotherapy has emerged as a promising treatment for certain cancers.
genetically engineered to target tumors, has shown significant success against multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells that is largely incurable.
The results appeared in a study published online in Nature Medicine. Patients received an infusion of altered immune cells known as T-cells roughly 2. 4 billion of them after undergoing a stem cell transplantation of their own stem cells.
In 16 of 20 patients with advanced disease there was a significant clinical response. The scientists found that the T-cell therapy was tolerated generally well
where myeloma tumors typically are showed found, and a long-term ability to fight the tumors. Relapse was associated generally with a loss of the engineered T-cells. his study suggests that treatment with engineered T-cells is not only safe
but of potential clinical benefit to patients with certain types of aggressive multiple myeloma, says first author Aaron P. Rapoport, M d,
. the Gary Jobson Professor in Medical Oncology at the University of Maryland School of medicine. ur findings provide a strong foundation for further research in the field of cellular immunotherapy for myeloma to help achieve even better
The approach has been used to treat leukemia as well as lymphoma, according to Dr. Rapoport, who is the Director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center.
More than 77,000 people in the United states have multiple myeloma, with about 24,000 new cases diagnosed each year.
or didn have a complete response had periods of disease control that I believe they would not have experienced otherwise.
Dr. Rapoport and co-authors Edward A. Stadtmauer, M d.,of the University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center,
In the clinical study, patientst-cells were engineered to express an affinity-enhanced T-cell receptor (TCR) specific for a type of tumor antigen,
or protein, known as a cancer-testis antigen (CT antigen). The target CT antigens were NY-ESO-1
and LAGE-1. Up to 60 percent of advanced myelomas have been reported to express NY-ESO-1 and/or LAGE-1,
which correlates to tumor proliferation and poorer outcomes. According to Adaptimmune, the trial is published the first study of lentiviral vector mediated TCR gene expression in humans.
Half the patients were treated at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center and half at the University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center.
or CARS) used to treat other cancers. The study was developed originally by Carl H. June, M d.,of the University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center,
and Dr. Rapoport, who have been research collaborators for 18 years. ultiple myeloma is a treatable but largely incurable cancer.
This study reveals the promise that immunotherapy with genetically engineered T-cells holds for boosting the body ability to attack the cancer
and provide patients with better treatments and control of their disease, said E. Albert Reece, M d..,Ph d.,MBA,
vice president for medical affairs at the University of Maryland and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and dean of the University of Maryland School of medicine. his trial is also an excellent example of significant
#Uncovering the Spread of Bacteria in Pneumonia Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered the role a toxin produced by a pneumonia-causing bacterium plays in the spread of infection from the lungs to the bloodstream in hospitalized patients. rior to this study,
. professor in Microbiology-Immunology and Medicine-Infectious disease. hese findings lay the foundation for future studies to further understand the mechanisms for how the escape to the bloodstream occurs.
In a paper published in PLOS Pathogens Dr. Hauser and his team used a mouse model of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) pneumonia to examine how the bacterium uses its secretion system to inject a toxin, called Exos, into cells.
Exos has previously been linked to a higher incidence of infections spreading to the blood. f we can understand this at a higher level of detail,
perhaps we will be able to design inhibitors that can be flushed into the bloodstream or the lung of a person who has PA pneumonia and block this process.
If we can block these processes, we may be able to prevent bacteria from disseminating to the bloodstream during pneumonia,
said Dr. Hauser, also a member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.
They collaborated with the Center for Advanced Microscopy to use a novel imaging technique to identify cells injected with Exos.
Next, Dr. Hauser plans to continue studying the mechanism of how Exos leads to the formation of FOCI. his research might have implications for other bacteria that frequently cause pneumonia
Stem cells are being investigated to fight a number of diseases, and have even recently been considered as an option to treat mitochondrial disease,
as the Los angeles times reported. Morgan Alexander, professor of biomedical surfaces in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Nottingham
#Treatment Failure in Parasite Infection Tied to Virustwo new studies explain why some parasite infections,
The findings, available online in The Journal of Infectious diseases, suggest that simple changes in current treatments could improve the lives of millions of people sickened by parasite infections. ur findings may mean that treatment for Leishmania infections could be improved significantly by determining
Beverley team focused on infections in Bolivia and Peru, while the other team, led by Catherine Ronet,
```Leishmaniasis is mainly spread by sand flies. Depending on the parasite species, symptoms of infection may include large skin lesions, fever, swelling of the spleen and liver,
and sometimes disfigurement and death. The virus carried by the parasite is called Leishmaniavirus, or LRV1.
In earlier research in animals, the scientists found that Leishmania causes more severe infections when the parasite is infected with LRV1.
Bolivia and Belgium examined data on 97 leishmaniasis patients. These were gathered through a project on drug resistance,
leishmaniasis is common in people who work in agriculture and forestry, said lead author Vanessa Adaui, Ph d,
and although infections typically are not fatal, they can lead to significant scarring, social stigmatization and economic loss. ll over the world,
treatment failure is a major obstacle to the control of infectious diseases like leishmaniasis, said Dujardin. t is of uppermost importance to understand the factors contributing to this failure to better tackle it.
But the failure rate was only 24 percent in patients with parasites that were free of the virus. The standard treatment for leishmaniasis differs based on the parasite species that causes the infection
The scientists are investigating how viral infection makes leishmaniasis more difficult to cure. According to Beverley, the parasites infected with the virus may be interacting with patientsimmune systems in a way that disrupts treatment.
Another, more likely possibility is that an increase in parasites spurred by the virus may make it more challenging for treatment to completely eliminate the parasites. number of other human parasites bear viral infections that are reminiscent of LRV1 in Leishmania,
#Software Turns Smartphones into Tools for Medical Research Jody Kearns doesn't like to spend time obsessing about her Parkinson's disease.
"The thing with Parkinson's disease is there's not much you can do about it, "she said of the nervous-system disorder,
and doctors together online, applying massive computing power to analyze DNA and even developing ingestible"smart"pills for detecting cancer.
who's using an app to study heart disease.""It's one thing that people have with them every day."
Apple launched its Researchkit program in March with five apps to investigate Parkinson's, asthma, heart disease, diabetes and breast cancer.
Elizabeth Ortiz, a 48-year-old New york nurse with asthma, measures her lung power each day by breathing into an inexpensive plastic device.
She types the results into the Asthma Health app which also asks if she's had difficulty breathing or sleeping,
and there's a high rate of asthma in my community, "said Ortiz, who said she already used her iphone"constantly"for things like banking and email."
and anyone else who suffers from asthma.""None of the apps test experimental drugs or surgeries.
Instead, they're designed to explore such questions as how diseases develop or how sufferers respond to stress, exercise or standard treatment regimens.
Stanford's Mcconnell said he also wants to study the effect of giving participants feedback on their progress,
But by reaching more people and gathering more data, advocates say smartphone apps can help doctors answer more subtle questions about a disease."
"Diseases like asthma are complicated very. They're not caused by a single gene or environmental influence,"said Eric Schadt,
a genomics professor who's using an iphone app to study asthma at New york's Icahn School of medicine at Mount sinai."
"The only hope you have of really going further in resolving this disease is for researchers to get to more people
Because these immune-system cells play important roles in a wide range of diseases, from diabetes to AIDS to cancer, the achievement provides a versatile new tool for research on T cell function,
as well as a path toward CRISPR/Cas9-based therapies for many serious health problems. Using their novel approach,
a protein that has attracted intense interest in the burgeoning field of cancer immunotherapy, as scientists have shown that using drugs to block PD-1 coaxes T cells to attack tumors.
The CRISPR/Cas9 system has captured the imagination of both scientists and the general public, because it makes it possible to easily
as these cells not only stand at the center of many disease processes, but could be gathered easily from patients,
which include autoimmune diseases as well as immunodeficiencies such as ubble boy disease, will enter the clinic in the future. here actually well-trodden ground putting modified T cells into patients.
Parkinson's disease May Begin In The Gut, Aarhus University Study A major epidemiological registry-based study from Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital indicates that Parkinson's disease begins in the gastrointestinal tract.
The study is the largest in the field so far. The chronic neurodegenerative Parkinson disease affects an increasing number of people.
However, scientists still do not know why some people develop Parkinson's disease. Now researchers from Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital have taken an important step towards a better understanding of the disease.
New research indicates that Parkinson's disease may begin in the gastrointestinal tract and spread through the vagus nerve to the brain."
"We have conducted a registry study of almost 15,000 patients who have had the vagus nerve in their stomach severed.
Between approximately 1970-1995 this procedure was a very common method of ulcer treatment. If it really is correct that Parkinson's starts in the gut and spreads through the vagus nerve,
then these vagotomy patients should naturally be protected against developing Parkinson's disease, "explains postdoc at Aarhus University Elisabeth Svensson on the hypothesis behind the study.
A hypothesis that turned out to be correct:""Our study shows that patients who have had the the entire vagus nerve severed were protected against Parkinson's disease.
Their risk was halved after 20 years. However, patients who had had only a small part of the vagus nerve severed where not protected.
This also fits the hypothesis that the disease process is strongly dependent on a fully or partially intact vagus nerve to be able to reach
The first clinical examination The research has presented strong evidence that Parkinson's disease begins in the gastrointestinal tract and spreads via the vagus nerve to the brain.
"Patients with Parkinson's disease are constipated often many years before they receive the diagnosis, which may be an early marker of the link between neurologic
and gastroenterologic pathology related to the vagus nerve,"says Elisabeth Svensson. Previous hypotheses about the relationship between Parkinson's and the vagus nerve have led to animal studies
The research project is an important piece of the puzzle in terms of the causes of the disease.
In the future the researchers expect to be able to use the new knowledge to identify risk factors for Parkinson's disease
and thus prevent the disease.""Now that we have found an association between the vagus nerve and the development of Parkinson's disease,
it is important to carry out research into the factors that may trigger this neurological degeneration,
so that we can prevent the development of the disease. To be able to do this will naturally be a major breakthrough,
Facts Parkinson's disease is a chronic and neurodegenerative disease which affects approx. 1 out of every 1, 000 people.
The first signs of the disease are seen most often between the ages of 50-60.
The research project was supported by the Danish Parkinson's disease Association and PROCRIN (Program for Clinical Research Infrastructure
For someone suffering from paralysis or limited mobility, visiting with other people is extremely difficult.
was able to interact with whoever the robot crossed paths with. ach of the 9 subjects with disabilities managed to remotely control the robot with ease after less than 10 days of training,
Will robots soon become a fact of daily life for people suffering from a disability?
#Enriched Blood cells Preserve Cognition In Mice With Features Of Alzheimer's disease, Cedars-Sinai Medical center Study Enriched Blood cells Preserve Cognition In Mice With Features Of Alzheimer's disease Los angeles-July 6,
2015 Cedars-Sinai researchers have tested successfully two new methods for preserving cognition in laboratory mice that exhibit features of Alzheimer's disease by using white blood cells from bone marrow
and a drug for multiple sclerosis to control immune response in the brain. Under the two approaches, immune cells from outside the brain were found to travel in greater numbers through the blood into the brain.
The study showed measurable benefits in mice an encouraging step toward further testing of these potentially powerful strategies in human trials.
During the progression of Alzheimer's disease, these cells are found to be defective. In this study, the researchers discovered that immune cells infiltrating the brain from the blood effectively resisted various abnormalities associated with the condition."
"These cells appear to work in the brain in several ways to counter the negative effects associated with Alzheimer's disease,
"said Maya Koronyo-Hamaoui, Phd, assistant professor of neurosurgery and biomedical sciences at Cedars-Sinai, and the senior author of the article published in Brain, a journal of Oxford university Press."
"The increasing incidence of Alzheimer's disease and the lack of any effective therapy make it imperative to explore new strategies, especially those that can target multiple abnormalities in such a complicated disease,"Koronyo-Hamaoui added.
In Alzheimer's disease, a protein fragment known as amyloid-beta builds up at the synapses of neurons the point where neuron-to-neuron communication occurs.
During the course of the disease, cells that support the brain's structure and function also fail at the cellular and molecular levels,
an FDA-approved drug used for the treatment of multiple sclerosis; the drug has been shown to foster the migration of white blood cells from the bloodstream to the brain.
All three groups experienced a substantial decrease in Alzheimer's-like pathology and symptoms. The varied approaches were effective in"recruiting"protective monocytes to"lesion sites"in the brain,
removing protein fragments and reducing harmful inflammation through the secretion of chemicals that regulate immunity at the molecular level,
Koronyo added that the study gives unprecedented details about monocyte numbers migrating into brain lesion sites
#Cell Structure Discovery Advances Understanding Of Cancer Development, University of Warwick Study University of Warwick researchers have discovered a cell structure
which could help scientists understand why some cancers develop. For the first time a structure called he meshhas been identified
which is found to change in certain cancers, such as those of the breast and bladder.
associate professor and senior Cancer Research UK Fellow at the division of biomedical cell biology at Warwick Medical school.
and support from Cancer Research UK and North West Cancer Research. Dr Royle said: e had been looking in 2d
TACC3, is overproduced in certain cancers. When this situation was mimicked in the lab, the mesh and microtubules were altered
Dr Emma Smith, senior science communications officer at Cancer Research UK, said: roblems in cell division are common in cancer cells frequently end up with the wrong number of chromosomes.
and it might be a crucial insight into why this process becomes faulty in cancer
North West Cancer Research (NWCR) has funded the research as part of a collaborative project between the University of Warwick and the University of Liverpool,
which could potentially better inform future cancer therapies. s a charity we fund only the highest standard of research,
Major human diseases such as cancer inflammation, neurodegeneration and bacterial/viral infection are primarily diseases of cells.
Without a molecular understanding of the underlying cell biology, intelligent directed therapeutic intervention is impossible. The division research focuses on fundamental cell biology processes such as cell division and intracellular communication.
Flu vaccines delivered using microneedles that dissolve in the skin can protect people against infection even better than the standard needle-delivered vaccine,
and brings the risk of needle-related diseases and injuries. It also induces crippling fear in many people,
The researchers compared the new system to traditional needle delivery by vaccinating two groups of people against three strains of influenza:
The continued threat of pandemics such as H1n1 swine flu and emerging infectious diseases such as Ebola makes vaccine development and mass vaccination a priority for global healthcare.
For some diseases, vaccines may be more effective when theye absorbed through the mucous membranes in the nose.
For example, studies in mice have suggested that tuberculosis vaccines delivered through the noseare more effective than those that are injected,
Tuberculosis experts gathered in a workshop at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases at the National institutes of health in Bethesda, Maryland,
#"Pill On A String"Could Help Spot Early Signs Of Cancer Of The Gullet, University of Cambridge Study A ill on a stringdeveloped by researchers at the University of Cambridge could help doctors detect oesophageal cancer cancer of the gullet at an early stage,
helping them overcome the problem of wide variation between biopsies, suggests research published today in the journal Nature Genetics.
Oesophageal cancer is preceded often by Barrett oesophagus, a condition in which cells within the lining of the oesophagus begin to change shape
Between one and five people in every 100 with Barrett's oesophagus go on to develop oesophageal cancer in their life-time,
a form of cancer that can be difficult to treat, particularly if not caught early enough.
At present, Barrett's oesophagus and oesophageal cancer are diagnosed using biopsies which look for signs of dysplasia, the proliferation of abnormal cancer cells.
This is a subjective process, requiring a trained scientist to identify abnormalities. Understanding how oesophageal cancer develops
and the genetic mutations involved could help doctors catch the disease earlier, offering better treatment options for the patient.
An alternative way of spotting very early signs of oesophageal cancer would be to look for important genetic changes.
However, researchers from the University of Cambridge have shown that variations in mutations across the oesophagus mean that standard biopsies may miss cells with important mutations.
A sample was more likely to pick up key mutations if taken using the Cytosponge, developed by Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald at the Medical Research Council Cancer Unit at the University of Cambridge. he trouble with Barrett oesophagus is that it looks bland
and might span over 10cm, explains Professor Fitzgerald. e created a map of mutations in a patient with the condition
and oesophageal cancer samples taken at one point in time from 23 patients, as well as 73 samples taken over a three-year period from one patient with Barrett oesophagus.
for example from A c to a t that provided a ingerprintof the causes of the cancer. Similar work has been done previously in lung cancer,
and oesophageal cancer, suggest that these changes occur very early on the process. Even in areas of Barrett oesophagus without cancer, the researchers found a large number of mutations in their tissue on average 12,000 per person (compared to an average of 18,000 mutations within the cancer.
Many of these are likely to have been ystanders genetic mutations that occurred along the way but that were implicated not actually in cancer.
The researchers found that there appeared to be a tipping point, where a patient would go from having lots of individual mutations,
but no cancer, to a situation where large pieces of genetic information were being transferred not just between genes but between chromosomes.
e know very little about how you go from pre-cancer to cancer and this is particularly the case in oesophageal cancer.
Barrett oesophagus and the cancer share many mutations, but we are now a step closer to understanding
which are the important mutations that tip the condition over into a potentially deadly form of cancer.
The research was funded by the Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK. The Cytosponge was trialled in patients at the NIHR Clinical Investigation Ward at the Cambridge Clinical Research Facility
#Smartphone-Based Device That Reads Medical Diagnostic Tests Quickly And Accurately Created, University of California,
ELISA can detect a number of diseases, including HIV, West nile virus and Hepatitis b, and it is used widely in hospitals.
screening populations for particular diseases, or tracking vaccination campaigns in most resource-poor settings. It fantastic for an undergrad to be first author on the publication.
The ELISA tests included those for mumps, measles, and herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2. With a total of 571 patient samples used in the comparison,
the mobile platform achieved 99.6 percent accuracy in diagnosing mumps, 98.6 percent for measles, and 99.4 percent each for herpes simplex 1 and 2. ur team is focused on developing biomedical technologies that work with mobile platforms to assist with on-site testing
The UCLA team included researchers from electrical engineering, physics and astronomy, bioengineering, pathology and laboratory medicine,
as well as the California Nanosystems Institute and the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. The other authors on the paper were UCLA graduate students Bingen Cortazar, Derek Tseng, Haydar Ozkan, Raymond Yan-Lok Chan, and Steve Feng;
or the induction of mechanical stress all of which can change the properties of a particular hydrogel designed to be responsive to those triggers. hese experimental and theoretical results provide a new conceptual framework for liquid motion confined by soft,
A single vaccine that immunizes against all types of influenza may soon be a reality,
after a team of scientists from Australia and China have discovered how the body's immunity cells remember flu viruses. The study published in the journal Nature Communications elaborated that body's CD8 cells can memorize strains of influenza
Researchers said that the breakthrough could lead to the development of a vaccine that can fight all new influenza viruses. Professor Xu,
China, said this study would significantly enlighten T-cell based vaccine development and immune intervention during severe influenza infection in the future.
"It exemplifies the approach we are taking at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity,
and 10 mg (lenvatinib mesylate, Lenvima) as a treatment for unresectable thyroid cancer in Japan on May 20, 2015.
Lenvima is the first molecular targeted treatment in Japan approved with an indication for unresectable thyroid cancer
which covers differentiated thyroid cancer as well as medullary thyroid carcinoma and anaplastic thyroid carcinoma. Discovered at Eisai's Tsukuba Research Laboratories
which are involved especially in tumor angiogenesis and proliferation of thyroid cancer. Furthermore, Lenvima has been confirmed through X-ray co-crystal structural analysis to demonstrate a new binding mode (Type V) to VEGFR2,
#Oncosil Medical introduces new device that treats cancer The global market for Pancreatic cancer is $1 billion,
and for HCC Liver Cancer an additional $1. 4 billionsingapore: Australia-based lifesciences company Oncosil Medical recently announced the commercialization of its device-Oncosil in the European union.
Oncosil is device that provides localized radiation treatment for cancer, and is the company's lead product candidate.
Oncosil, implantable nuclear medicine (radiotherapy) device, has been piloted successfully for treating pancreatic and liver cancer. The device was found to be safe and effective in laboratory studies
and has demonstrated clinically target tumor regression (tumour shrinkage) in both solid tumor indications of pancreatic and liver cancer.
We are excited very to be in the forefront of potentially a new radiation treatment for the dreaded disease of pancreatic and liver cancer."
"The company also announced the appointment of Professor Pierce Chow as chairman to lead primary liver cancer-hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)- Scientific Advisory board d
#Re-engineered antibiotic could fight drug-resistant bacteria The US scientists have created a promising second-generation antibiotic to fight against the bacteria that commonly cause respiratory and other infections,
which also includes the sexually transmitted gonorrhea disease. Researchers have led by St jude Children's Research Hospital,
The second-generation Spectinomycins demonstrated an increased in antibacterial activity against several other commonly caused respiratory infections such as Haemophilus influenza and Moraxella catarrhalis.
which are mostly responsible for the cases like Legionnaires'disease and other sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea and chlamydia.
how Spectinomycin binds to the ribosomes of clinically important bacteria with a focus on producing compounds that would work on a broader field of disease-causing bacteria."
#Detecting potent tumors using a smartphone! Ms Maryam Sadeghi shows off an early version of Molescope (Picture courtesy:
an innovative hand-held tool that uses a smartphone to monitor skin for signs of cancer.
Once people take high-quality, high-resolution images of suspicious moles or skin abnormalities, they can archive images
#New device promises to detect cancer in 3 min! Singapore: Japanese researchers claim that they have developed a new device that can detect cancer from a drop of blood in just three minutes!
The device developed as a result of collaboration between Kobe-based medical device manufacturer My Tech researchers from Showa University uses a biochip,
The chip, known as proteo, functions by attracting a faintly luminous substance found in cancer patients,
even when the cancer is at a very early stage.""We diagnosed without any errors
whether the tumor is benign or malignant in a study of 20 patients,"said Mr Yuki Hasegawa of My Tech.
"Currently, blood testing can only detect around 10 to 20 percent of cancers. In contrast, we are expecting to detect as much as 90 percent.""
""Most cancers are detectable only after they have developed for 15 to 20 years. Our technology allows diagnosing much earlier than that,
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